DeWalt 18v NiCad Replacement

[db5]

Not Shopsmith but might be of value to those of you who have the 18v DeWalt.

I have an 18v NiCad DeWalt drill that I bought before the 20v LiIon came on the market. Of course they changed the battery and charger so you couldn’t use it in your 18v drill. Buying a new Nicad was out of the question. I looked for an 18v LiIon replacement and found this one on Amazon. It’s from Energroup and reading the ratings decided to buy two. The seller says that you shouldn’t use these with any charger that doesn’t specifically say for LiIon batteries. Some buyers tried them on their existing chargers with mixed results. Reading the reviews I concluded that the bad reviews were because they didn’t know how to charge them. To charge put the battery in the charger and the red light on the charger should “flash” and the first bar on the battery also flashes. When charging stops the red light is solid.

This table shows the results from charging both batteries. The first charge for both was a single attempt with 3 bars showing and the run time that resulted. The second attempt was different. I attempted only 1 charge on battery 1 to see if there was any improvement in the run time; there was. On battery 2 I charged it until all 4 bars showed charge. That took 4 attempts. Red light is solid, remove the battery and re-insert it and the red light flashes; repeat until fully charged. On this one the run time is 60 minutes. On the 3rd charge I charged only battery 1 and the run time is 58 minutes. I don’t know how long the batteries will last but this is quite acceptable. Just charge them the way I did.

[thunderbirdbat]

I had replaced the 18V batteries with clones for my DeWalt drill a while ago and was looking for replacement batteries for a set of 18V Porter Cable tools. Then my husband got me a 20V drill and impact driver set after that. I was going to complain. He has since added other tools that use the 20V batteries as well. I did find that there are adapters to not only go between the 18V and 20V DeWalt tools but also between brands. Now I just use an adapter with the DeWalt batteries to power the other tools instead of having to find replacement PC batteries for the jig saw, circular saw and reciprocating saw.

[RFGuy]

Not Shopsmith but might be of value to those of you who have the 18v DeWalt.

I have an 18v NiCad DeWalt drill that I bought before the 20v LiIon came on the market. Of course they changed the battery and charger so you couldn’t use it in your 18v drill. Buying a new Nicad was out of the question. I looked for an 18v LiIon replacement and found this one on Amazon. It’s from Energroup and reading the ratings decided to buy two. The seller says that you shouldn’t use these with any charger that doesn’t specifically say for LiIon batteries. Some buyers tried them on their existing chargers with mixed results. Reading the reviews I concluded that the bad reviews were because they didn’t know how to charge them. To charge put the battery in the charger and the red light on the charger should “flash” and the first bar on the battery also flashes. When charging stops the red light is solid.

This table shows the results from charging both batteries. The first charge for both was a single attempt with 3 bars showing and the run time that resulted. The second attempt was different. I attempted only 1 charge on battery 1 to see if there was any improvement in the run time; there was. On battery 2 I charged it until all 4 bars showed charge. That took 4 attempts. Red light is solid, remove the battery and re-insert it and the red light flashes; repeat until fully charged. On this one the run time is 60 minutes. On the 3rd charge I charged only battery 1 and the run time is 58 minutes. I don’t know how long the batteries will last but this is quite acceptable. Just charge them the way I did.

Are you saying that you are charging a Li-Ion battery in a Ni-Cad charger? I really wouldn't recommend doing this. All batteries can be dangerous, but Li-Ion is one of the more dangerous battery chemistries available today, particularly if it is overcharged or gets overheated. These batteries have a thermistor built into the battery case so that the charger can monitor the battery temperature while charging. If a temperature threshold is reached the charger will either slow/stop the charging until the battery cools. The thermistor and corresponding temperature threshold for a Li-Ion battery versus a Ni-Cad one are different so you could end up overcharging a Li-Ion battery in a Ni-Cad charger. Also, there is a different charging curve for Ni-Cad versus Li-Ion batteries so again mixing the two is not advised. Interchanging a different battery chemistry with a charger not meant to charge it will eventually lead to premature battery failure and in the worst case could lead to fire or explosion. Be careful.

[Ed in Tampa]

I agree with RF guy. Charging li ion batteries on anything other than a charger made to charge them is inviting an explosion or a fire at least.

When you see one of these batteries go off you will heed RF Guy,s warning.